Oval Office
12:08 P.M. EST
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to have Prime Minister Solberg of Norway. Just had a very resounding election victory, so it’s another four years at least. And very respected by her country. Very liked by her country.
We do a lot of business with Norway, and I know you just bought some additional military equipment in the form of F-35s and other things, and so I congratulate you. We make the best in the world, we make. And Norway is a great customer and a great ally, and a great friend. So it’s an honor to have you. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER SOLBERG: Thank you very much. And I’d just like to say, we are really appreciating the good work that we have together with the United States. You are our closest ally inside NATO. And we see your military personnel also training in Norway, and it’s a part of what you think is very good on our bilateral cooperation also. In the last years, there has even been a surplus from the U.S. to Norway on the economic side. So you must be making good products. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’re doing a little bit, and we do make great product. And we were just discussing with the Prime Minister, we make the greatest military equipment in the world, and you buy a lot of it and we appreciate that. It’s called jobs.
PRIME MINISTER SOLBERG: It’s called jobs, yes.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: But it’s also called great equipment.
PRIME MINISTER SOLBERG: You know, Norway contributes too. I think we have estimated it — up to 470,000 jobs in the United States by our investment and what we are doing. And it’s a special thing; you know, we have very — our climate policies now about make (inaudible) our transportation system different.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER SOLBERG: So, Teslas are a big hit in Norway.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Oh, good. Well, that’s good.
PRIME MINISTER SOLBERG: Yes, electrical cars.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We do that too. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER SOLBERG: Yes, thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much.
END
12:10 P.M. EST
